Find over 25,000 psychological definitions


empirical-criterion keying

a method for developing personality inventories in which the items (presumed to measure one or more traits) are created and then administered to a criterion group of people known to possess a certain characteristic (e.g., antisocial behavior, significant anxiety, exaggerated concern about physical health) and to a control group of people without the characteristic. Only those items that demonstrate an ability to distinguish between the two groups are chosen for inclusion in the final inventory.

Browse dictionary by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Psychology term of the day

August 31st 2024

learning paradigm

learning paradigm

an experimental design used to research incidental learning. Groups of participants are shown the same stimuli (e.g., a list of 20 words) but asked to perform different tasks with them (e.g., picture associated words, determine the average number of letters in each word). Afterward, the participants unexpectedly are asked to recall as many of the presented items as possible.